"Ah!" Sharp exclaimed.

"Yes, indeed." he said.

"If he still has his job after this, I'll tell you this much..." he told her.

"I don't know if Illias has told you this, but you're above him now." he said further. "HE reports to YOU, should you want something from that station." he informed her.

"Of course, that's assuming he retains his position for whatever reason." he then added.

Sharp just nodded and smiled.

"Indeed." he said.

"At any rate, have a good day." he told her.

"And if you have any questions, feel free to ask anyone." he went on.

"I hire good people, willing to help."

-----

Ash just sighed, as he let go of the frightened man's collar, dropping him to the ground.

"You'd better pray that the info you gave me is correct." he told him. "Because if I find out your information leads me to a dead-end, I will find you again, and what I will do to you will make what I just did seem like a massage." he hissed.

The man merely scrambled to his feet and ran off, panicking and yelping, until he disappeared around a corner in the distance.

Ash then shook his head, and started heading off in the direction of where the man had pointed him. He'd been walking for about 10 minutes, when he overheard a group of youths talking with each other. Normally he would ignore something like that, but he overheard a few words that caught his interest. Enough that he pieced together something about a weird person in a condemned building, and they'd likely be dead soon when the building collapsed in on itself.

"...." he was silent, before listening in more closely, trying to get some more definite information about the exact location or address of the building. When he managed to get it, he realized it was a short walk from where he was, so he made his way in its direction.

When he got to the building, he saw that it was, indeed, dilapidated and condemned, and would surely collapse very soon.

'Nobody should be living in a place like THIS...' he thought to himself, as he made his way to an open window with no glass in it, and carefully climbed through.

"Geez..." he muttered.

"More dust in here than sand in the Order's reserves." he said, as he started to mill about the place, looking for this supposed resident.

"Eh?" he muttered, feeling the mana wash over him.

"...the hell...?" he asked the air.

He then looked around, before looking at the ceiling, figuring whomever owned the mana was probably up there. He made his way to a decrepit starway, and looked at the rotting wood.

"Great." he said.

He then started to carefully walk up the stairs, their structural integrity barely supporting him, and making moans and creaks and groans that caused him the cringe.

"Hello?" he then said.

"Anyone around?"

"............" Ash was silent as he witnessed the individual.

"...uh..." he stammered, as he stepped a bit closer.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Are.... you all right?" he asked further, as he made his way closer still.

However, he stepped on one part of the floor that gave way, and caused his foot to go through.

"AH, hell!" he exclaimed.

"Ok, seriously, this place is falling apart. Literally."

"Yeah... I noticed." Ash responded.

He then climbed back up to where the floor was more solid... with her help.

"Hey, listen." he said. "We need to get out of here." he told her.

"This is no place to live. It's falling apart at the seams, and odds are it'll be destroyed anytime soon... assuming it doesn't collapse on its own first." he commented.

"So let's get you outta here."

"Uh.... right, then." Ash replied.

'That was... easy.' he thought.

It was then that they heard more creaking and groaning, and it was getting louder.

"Crap, crap!" Ash exclaimed, as he took her hand.

"I apologize in advance if this results in something negative for you." he quickly said.

With that, the two of them disappeared in a burst of black fire, just as the room started to collapse in on itself. Maybe not the building, itself, but the room was.

They then appeared on the roof of a nearby office building, and Ash sighed.

"Whew." he muttered.

"You okay?" he asked the female.

"Huh?" Ash asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." he told her.

"...all right, I have to ask you something." he then said out of nowhere.

"I... who are you?" he asked. "Have we met before?" he asked her further.

"You seem... very familiar to me." he commented.

"But I can't put my finger on it."

"Hazel?" Ash asked.

"Hmmmm..." he mumbled, as he started to think.

"That DOES sound... vaguely familiar." he said.

"Come on, think! THINK, Ash!" he told himself, poking his own forehead and closing his eyes.

"You're not as smart as Lindsay, but this is on the tip of your brain! Think!" he said further.

Ash froze up completely when she said that.

"....Mistress..." he muttered.

"You're... you from Vanessa's lab." he said.

"And I'm not HER fire boy. Neither is Lindsay." he told her.

"We're free of her. We're our own people. Persons. Whatever." he went on.

"...you should be, as well." he then said further.

"What with Vanessa being gone and all."